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Bridging the Digital Divide with Open eBooks
Michelle Bickert, Ebook Program Manager, Digital Public Library of America
James English, Senior Product Owner National Platforms, New York Public Library
Michael Bills, Director of Sales - Digital Products, Baker & Taylor
Liz Allen, Product, Clever
Trevor Owens, Supervisory Senior Program Officer, Institute of Museum and Library Services
Open eBooks is an app containing thousands of popular and award-winning titles that are free for kids from in-need communities, without holds or late fees. Since First Lady Michelle Obama announced its launch in February 2016, Open eBooks has received overwhelming feedback from teachers, librarians and students praising the initiative. Attendees will learn more about how the program is being utilized in school classrooms and libraries, how public libraries can help, and best practices for implementation. Attendees will also have a chance to demo the app.
Building the Future: Public Library Directors and Their Trustees Making Future Policy Decisions Together!
Susan J. Schmidt, President, United for Libraries
Sally Reed, Executive Director, United for Libraries
Fred Stielow, Trustee, Anne Arundel County (Md.) Library System
Peter Pearson, President, The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library
Public library directors are preparing to consider or are already discussing their future roles in the community, education, and the business of managing the operation of the library. This program will consider how trustees and library directors can communicate about library trends and related policy issues, and understand each other’s role in securing funding for innovation. At the conclusion of the program, attendees will understand some of the future issues that will challenge public library trustees and best practices for action and communication with their library directors.
Collaborating on Libraries’ Digital Futures: A Conversation with New York Public Library's Dr. Anthony Marx
Dr. Anthony Marx, President and CEO,The New York Public Library
Access to knowledge has never been faster or more ubiquitous, making the role of public and research libraries ever more essential. Dr. Anthony Marx will discuss a collaborative vision for all libraries in this digital age and a path forward to ensure that the reading public - students, life-long learners, researchers, and scholars - truly benefits from online access to information.
School Libraries as Global Educators
Andy Plemmons, School Library Media Specialist, David C. Barrow Elementary
How can the school library create a globally connected classroom? The David C. Barrow Elementary Media Center has used social media, Google Docs, Skype, and Google Hangouts to connect educators and students around the world for events like International Dot Day and World Read Aloud Day, to expand reader’s advisory through a Picture Book Smackdown, and to engage students around the country for America Recycles Day. These schoolwide events have been the beginnings of the global culture that continues to grow in the school.
Sustainable Thinking for the Future of Libraries
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, Coordinator for Library Sustainability, Mid-Hudson Library System
Libraries must take an active, visible role in building sustainable and resilient communities. Our future depends on it. We will explore the importance of infusing the core value of sustainability into everything we do, and demonstrate how libraries that lead into the future using “sustainable thinking” fulfill our mission as libraries in new and innovative ways. "Sustainable Thinking" is a concept that aligns the core values of libraries with the "Triple Bottom Line" definition of sustainability: economic feasibility, environmental stewardship and social justice to inspire investment and build support for the future.
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Building Civic Engagement with a Civic Lab
Amy Koester, Youth & Family Program Supervisor, Skokie Public Library
Amita Lonial, Learning Experiences Manager, Skokie Public Library
Disappearing local news sources and today’s polarized political landscape mean the library’s role as a space for civic engagement is increasingly important. The Civic Lab at Skokie Public Library is a pop-up library that encourages dialogue and engagement on the issues that affect our community. Featuring all-ages collections and resources on major and emerging issues, including climate change and Black Lives Matter, the flexible, mobile space is used for formal and informal programming for families, teens, and adults. Learn about how this type of pop-up space can invigorate civic discourse and literacy in the library and the community.
Collude! Resist! Collaborate! ebook Strategies for the Modern Revolutionary
Veronda Pitchford, Director, Membership Development and Resource Sharing, Reaching Across Illinois Library System
Paula MacKinnon, Interim Director, Califa
Stephen H. Spohn, Jr. Resource Sharing Director, Massachusetts Library System
Mitchell Davis, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, BiblioLabs
Do you want to be a revolutionary? Our digital posse innovates with acquisition and access of econtent for the masses. We work with forward thinking publishers, geeky and entrepreneurial ebook vendors, and fabulous funders to co-create models that position libraries as the go-to source for econtent. Our goal: rock the reading ecosystem. Outcomes so far: an ereader app for seamless access across platforms, statewide programs with simultaneous use to eliminate friction to attract new audiences, developing a national library voice in the econtent marketplace and co-conspiring for a better ebook experience. We need you. Join us.
Immersive and Interactive: Virtual Reality In a Contextually-rich Learning Environment
Matthew Boyer, Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations, Clemson University College of Education
Stephen Moysey, Associate Professor, Clemson University Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
How can virtual reality advance immersive, interactive game-based engagement within a contextually-rich learning environment? As part of their Improving Undergraduate STEM Education project, researchers at Clemson university are exploring a VR application as part of their current focus on enabling field experiences through the use of virtual reality. Funded by the National Science Foundation (IUSE award #1504619) this project focuses on developing immersive virtual reality field experiences (VRFE) for use in educational settings with a first product specifically focused on a field experience in a virtual reproduction of the Grand Canyon targeted toward undergraduate introductory geology courses.
Towards A Less Normative Future in Library Services to Children/Teens
Angie Manfredi, Head of Youth Services, Los Alamos County Library System
When we envision the future of libraries, youth services librarians must actively push for de-centralizing Whiteness, particularly in our collection development. This session will help librarians critically evaluate not just the media they purchase for their youth patrons but also the sources that review it. The future of libraries, and of library collections, must reflect the reality of the communities we serve and we, as gatekeepers, need to be advocates for change.
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Building Community, Leading Change: Libraries Transforming Communities
Erica Freudenberger, Outreach Consultant, Southern Adirondack Library System
Nancy Kranich, Lecturer, Rutgers University School of Communication and Information
Ken W. Stewart, School Librarian (Retired), Blue Valley High School
As the nation becomes increasingly divided, communities need conversation more than ever. Libraries are rising to the challenge, bringing people together to tackle challenges large and small. Join us for a discussion with three library leaders – representing a public, an academic and a school library – about how libraries are evolving and becoming leaders in the community engagement/facilitation/dialogue space, and this shift’s impact on the professional and personal practices of library staff. Attendees will also learn about Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Community Engagement Models for Change, a new ALA initiative that will offer free community engagement training to libraries of all sizes and types starting in early 2017.
Placemaking and the Public Library
Michelle Jeske, City Librarian, Denver Public Library
Learn how public libraries are participating in placemaking efforts in their communities outside of their library walls. Denver Public Library will share its successes and challenges creating its role in a rapidly changing neighborhood of artists, designers, millennials and more. Discover other public library successes in placemaking in their communities and discuss the challenges of public/private partnerships. The program will include time for sharing.
Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Recommendations: An Equitable Future for ALA and the Profession
Leslie Scott, Library Director, Prosper Community Library (Texas)
Melissa Cardenas-Dow
Martin Garnar, Dean, Kraemer Family Library, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Lessa Pelayo-Lozada, Young Readers Librarian, Palos Verdes Library District
LaJuan Pringle, Branch Manager, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
ALA’s Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion has developed a plan and strategic actions to build more equity, diversity, and inclusion among our members, the field of librarianship, and our communities. As these recommendations shift to an Implementation Working Group in 2016-2018, we will need to continue the public and honest conversations that help keep these issues at the forefront. Task Force and Working Group members will present the recommendations in the context of the future of the United States and will ask for participation from attendees to help advance our profession to reflect and represent our nation’s ever-increasing diversity. All library workers will benefit from learning how they can contribute to this important work.
Thinking Broadly and Creatively: MIT’s Future of Libraries Report
Chris Bourg, Director, MIT Libraries
Greg Eow, Associate Director for Collections, MIT Libraries
Stephanie Hartman, User Experience Specialist and Content Strategist, MIT Libraries
MIT’s Task Force on the Future of Libraries was charged with developing a vision of how the MIT Libraries could evolve to best advance the creation, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge, not only to support MIT’s mission but also to position the Institute as a leader in the reinvention of research libraries. Through discussions, open forums, and collaborative tools, the Task Force brought together the best thinking of faculty, staff, and students. Its recent report envisions the library as an open global platform rooted in shared values and mission; supported by innovative approaches to community and relationships, discovery and use, and stewardship and sustainability; and informed and enabled by an expanded emphasis on research and development.
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